1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to multimedia distribution and, more particularly, to systems and methods for providing targeted multimedia content and advertising.
2. Background
There are several models for Internet distribution of digital multimedia content and each model has its own problems. One model is the pay and download model. In this model, the consumer can access a website and request that certain content, i.e., a song or a video clip, be downloaded, for a fee, to the consumer's computer. Typically, these sites offer samples of the content, which can be downloaded and played for free. The samples allow the consumer to determine if he wants to purchase the content. A first problem with this model, for consumers who want free access to content, is that the content is not free. A second problem is that even though the consumer owns a copy of the content item that is downloaded to his computer, encryption, license keys, etc., make it difficult for the consumer to copy the item to a portable device. And if the content item is not encrypted, or if a license key is not required, then there is a potential for unauthorized copying of the content item. Additionally, even if the content item can be copied to a portable device, there are still problems related to portability, which will be addressed below.
A related but alternative model to the pay and download scheme is the pay per access scheme. In this scheme, the consumer pays a fee and the content is streamed to the consumers computer or other device used to access the content. When content is streamed, no copy is made in the accessing device. Therefore, the consumer has to access the content and pay the fee each time the consumer wants to play the content item. The accessing device can be a computer, but it could also be, for example, a settop box used to access movies or television programming. Streaming does not require much memory in the accessing device; therefore, the consumer typically does not need to worry about whether the device has enough memory to store lots of content. Also, because they do not require lots of memory, the devices can be made smaller and cost efficient. But streaming is bandwidth intensive; therefore, it may not be acceptable in certain situations. Moreover, the content is not portable, because the consumer does not receive a copy that they can then copy into a portable device or storage medium.
Another model for Internet distribution is the file sharing model. Services operating under this model have many problems, some of them well publicized. In the file sharing model, users can store, access, and share content that they have already purchased. Two major problems with these type of services are unauthorized copying and working out how the content producers will be paid for the use of their content. For example, one such service copied songs from thousands of CDs into a storage medium. Users were then allowed access to songs that corresponded to songs on CDs the user had already purchased. In order to verify that the user had purchased a CD, the user was required to put the CD into the CD ROM drive of his computer. The servers used to run the service also ran software that allowed them to verify the CD in the user's CD ROM drive. Once verified, the user could access from the storage medium copies of the songs on the CD. Unfortunately, the copying of the thousands of CDs was unauthorized and amounted to an infringement of the copyright for each song. Another file sharing site allowed users to copy music files from each other's computer hard drives, leading to rampant copyright infringement.
One solution aimed at alleviating these problems is for file sharing sites to use “lockers” in which a user can arrange music or other content, which they have purchased. The user can then store, organize, and access their content from their computer, or from any computer anywhere. The main problem with this model is that the site operator needs to make money. Therefore, in one example, the user is charged each time he accesses content in his locker. But this means that the user is charged for accessing content that the user already owns. An alternative, of course, is to use advertisements to subsidize the cost of the service. But Internet advertising, such as banner ads, are notoriously ineffective. This is because users tend to ignore the advertising. Moreover, while the user is not forced to pay to access his own content, he is subjected to unwanted advertising in order to access content that the user already owns.
Another problem with digital content is realizing the benefits of portability. It is inconvenient and sometimes impossible to take a computer, even a laptop computer, with you. So while services like those discussed offer users the convenience of being able to access their digital content from anywhere, sometimes accessing the content is just not possible. For example, if a user would like to listen to music while he exercises, such a service would not be of any benefit. Portable devices designed to store digital music do exist; however, they have several drawbacks as well. For example, such devices typically require songs to be downloaded from a computer, which means buying cumbersome and/or expensive cables and software for interfacing the device to a computer. Also, these devices typically have a limited amount of memory to store songs, which requires the user to constantly update the songs stored on the device.
One way to overcome the problems with the portable devices is to employ wireless distribution of digital content. Wireless distribution has several drawbacks, however. First, Wireless portable devices used to receive wirelessly distributed content do not presently have sufficient memory to download content to the device. As a result, the content is typically streamed, but streaming requires high bandwidth. In most wireless systems, bandwidth is limited and extremely valuable. This leads to a second problem—the cost of such services. Wireless distribution of content must be paid for; therefore, the user will either be subjected to an unwanted fee or unwanted advertising.